Battlestar Galactica

It is official!  Stephanie Chaves-Jacobsen’s new show, the David E. Kelly remake of the BBC drama Life on Mars, has been picked up by ABC.  While industry experts considered this to be a predictable move, fans of Stephanie’s performance as Kendra Shaw in Razor were still relieved to have ABC confirm the commitment at yesterday’s Upfronts in New York City.

Life on Mars was a huge critical hit on the BBC, and the remake will continue the original’s combination of elements of scifi time-travel theories with classic police procedural plot points.  The premise is that an car accident causes a police detective to go back in time to the 1970s, but audience is never sure if the guy has gone into a coma, gone back in time, or gone to a mental institution. 

The BBC drama ended without the question being answered to everyone’s satisfaction, but the remake is more likely to emphasize the drama of human relationships than the drama of time travel.  David E. Kelly is not known for his scifi/fantasy roots, and the primary executive producers are reportedly from October Road.  While I was one of the few viewers who loved October Road, primarily because the great lighting and fascinating supporting cast made up for the fact that the leads were as charismatic as manufactured sponges, I am not too confident in their ability to manage an intricate scifi serial.

For the sake of Stephanie and all of the scifi fans out there who are already rooting for this to succeed, I hope I am wrong.  Life on Mars has a lot of potential … it would be great of the show lived up to its promise.

A character named Emily was featured prominently in “Faith,” the most recent Battlestar Galactica episode.  If you thought Emily looked familiar, it is because she is played by Nana Visitor, an actress who has a long list of scifi and television credits to her name.

Nana’s fans call themselves “Nanites” and they run a variety of fan pages dedicated to her and her work.  Her official fansite is called Nanavision.com, but sites devoted to Nana can be found all over the web.

Fans of Star Trek: Deep Space Nine will remember her as Kira Nerys.  Ron Moore is not her only connection between DS9 & BSG, as apparently got the role of Kira after Michelle Forbes, who plays Admiral Cain on BSG, turned it down.  Like Cain, Kira had a brutal past.  Unlike Cain, she did not succumb to the madness.  But the two characters did share a fascination with war and a leadership style that would make an essay about the two interesting.

While Kira is probably the role that is most familiar to scifi fans, fans of Dark Angel will also remember Nana as Dr. Elizabeth Renfroe.  Over the years she has also performed countless guest roles on shows that include CSI, L.A. Law, Matlock, McGuyver, Doogie Howser, Frasier, Night Court, Knight Rider, and many others.

Nana currently stars on Wildfire, an ABC Family drama about redemption and horse racing.  She owns the farm that serves as the central hub for the characters of the show, which is currently in its fourth season.  If you are interested in watching more of Nana, you can watch full episodes of Wildfire on the ABC Family site.

Tricia Helfer loves cats.  So it should be no surprise that she appears in the latest campaign for People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) and pleads with her fans to treat their cats, and all animals, with dignity and respect. 

The new campaign is called Be An Angel for Animals, and it features various beautiful stars with their furry friends.  Tricia’s costar for the shoot is a handsome male named Mr. Nix, who is lucky enough to be Tricia’s costar at home as well.  Tricia has six cats in all, and has appeared in cat lover magazines as well as Playboy and Maxim.  Mr. Nix is a rescue cat, in keeping with PETA’s campaign to encourage people to rescue animals rather than purchase them from pet stores or breeders.

“I really just thought that this campaign ‘Angels for Animals’ is something that I feel is a good message to get out there,” Tricia said.  “That they are part of the family and you should treat them as part of the family.”

The site for the Angels for Animals campaign also includes some new video footage of Tricia taken at the photo shoot, and Tricia’s candid plea for people to treat animals more kindly.  She states that wearing fur is “ridiculous” and expresses her dismay that her home country of Canada still allows the clubbing of baby seals.

“I just don’t think you should ever hurt an animal,” Tricia says.  “You wouldn’t do it to you, so why would you do it them?  They’ve got little souls, and little hearts, and little minds, and they are precious.”

Tricia also offers her opinions about how Number Six would handle animal cruelty:

“She’s physically very strong, so she would probably smash someone’s head into the wall,” laughs Tricia.  “She would probably do to them what they were doing to the animal.” 

This is not a new cause for Tricia, who has been donating the proceeds from TriciaHelfer.com to animal causes for years.  She also auctions off rare finds from the BSG photo archives and donates the proceeds to cat rescues and other animal related charities.

The promotions for the Be An Angel for Animals campaign include giveaways for the first three seasons of Battlestar Galactica on DVD, as well as a DVD of the movie Razor.  If you would like to enter click the link above, which will also tell you more about PETA and how you can get involved if you feel inclined.

We are now halfway through the Battlestar Galactica episodes we will be able to see in 2008, and things are really moving.  Friday’s episode, “Faith,” was one of the vocally loud and visually soft episodes to date.  Click below if you have seen the episode, or if you do not mind being spoiled a bit.  If you have not seen the episode, feel free to watch the embedded version above.

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Or more accurately, Lucy Lawless wants you to vote for Marissa Jaret Winokur on Dancing With the Stars … watching is optional.  Although if you do watch, be sure to look for Lucy in the audience since she has been attending as many shows as possible to cheer on her friend. 

When Dancing With the Stars airs again on Monday it will feature the Final Four and some tough competition.  Marissa faces some formidable foes in dancing angel Kristy Yamaguchi, sympathetic heartthrob Christian De La Fuente, and the sexy duo of Jason Taylor and the often-underestimated Edyta.  If you are anywhere near a phone or a computer on Monday between 8:00 and 9:30 EST and then vote for Marissa and help make Lucy a happy woman (check the ABC.com site for the number to call or the address to e-mail.  You can send votes via text as well.

Lucy and Marissa have been photographed together on a wide array of red carpets since 2004, and they are close friends when they are not in the public eye.  Lucy has blogged several times about rushing back from a distant appearance in order to be in the audience to make Marissa more comfortable when she dances:

“I have to rush back to Los Angeles to be with Marissa, who is down to the final 5 in DWTS.  She was in the bottom two last week.  See what happens when I leave town?!  Usually I am there making rude gestures across the dance floor, like I’m pulling a noose tight, just to stop her taking it all too seriously.  Still, I want her to get through another week.  Please don’t forget to vote!  L”

Lucy’s devotion to cheering on Marissa is especially admirable since Lucy has been vocal about the fact that she is not fond of the show.  To devote this many hours to making sure your friend succeed on a show you don’t even like?  Now that is friendship!

These are the words Admiral Adama used to explain why he has never finished his favorite book, and they are a beautiful peek into the pain of a man who has had too much loss in his life. 

They are also words that describe many fans’ secret feelings about their favorite pop culture obsessions.  For a long time I thought I was the only freak who could not bring herself to watch the final season of Buffy the Vampire Slayer, or to read Harry Potter and the Deathly Hollows.  

But I recently discovered there are millions of people out there, just like me and Bill Adama, who just can’t say goodbye to their favorite characters.

When you really love something, it is hard to watch the series finale or read the final installment because you know that after that … there is no more.  It’s like how anticipation is half the fun of a vacation or a holiday, or looking forward to a party is almost as much fun as the party itself.

But because it is an ending, there is a bittersweet element as well.  A sharp pain, like the death of someone who you admired from afar or loved from a distance.  And since life can deliver enough death and pain on its own, it is understandable that some fans do not want to face the natural ending of their favorite characters.

Sometimes it is easier to avoid the end then it is to get creative closure, especially when the characters are ones that you have grown attached to over time.  I understand why Adama would not want to read the end of his favorite book, and admire him for the sacrifice he is making by reading it nonetheless.

This looks more fun than a cabinet meeting … while Lee Adama tends to stick to the more serious side of governmental affairs, Jamie Bamber found himself at the champagne-soaked launch of BritWeek 2008 at the British Consul General’s official residence in Los Angeles.

BritWeek celebrates the numerous connections between the Great Britain and the City of Angels, and features numerous parties, screenings, events and educational opportunities.  This year’s celebrations included a Duran Duran concert, a comedy festival, and a celebrity soccer match hosted by the Los Angeles Galaxy soccer team.

Other celebrities who joined Jamie at the invitation-only launch included John Cleese, Dame Judi Dench, Eric Idle, Juliet Mills of Passions, Lucy Davis of Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip and the BBC version of The Office, fashion designer Zandra Rhodes, and Michael Keaton among others.  The photograph above shows Jamie with actor Tony Curran of The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen and a woman identified as Maingu Yen.

This may not be the most original tee bearing a frak-reference, but the description on the Think Geek web site makes it worth checking out:

“Meetings. They happen no matter what you do. Even in the future, they haven’t managed to find a cure for the common meeting.

Take Battlestar Galactica, for instance. Adama meets with the Cylons on Galactica. The resistance has meetings to review escape plans. The Quorum of Twelve holds meetings to decide upon new laws for the colonies. Meetings, meetings, meetings.

And they’re still unbearably long. And you’re sitting there, quietly, in the back thinking to yourself, ‘What did I do to deserve this?’ [chug coffee, time passes] ‘Any idiot knows that plan will never work.’ [doodle on notepad, time passes] ‘What the frak is that guy thinking?’

Wear this shirt and proudly ask “WTF?” without actually asking it. It’s perfect because nobody takes it personally if you’re wearing a Battlestar Galactica shirt to the meeting. But *you* know why you’re wearing it. And that’s all that matters.”

While the meetings I go to usually frown on tee shirts, I giggle at the idea of wearing the tee underneath my suit to one meeting in particular.  If you want to join me, Think Geek sells these babies for $16.99 to $18.99 depending on size, with a bit more added for shipping.

The link to this shirt was sent to me by the same friend who hearts this Think Geek girl gamer tee, which has the bonus of a retro-80s toy reference.  If you need a Mother’s Day gift for a woman who has traded in her girlhood collection of My Little Ponies for an obsession with MMO or console dominance, then this shirt is for you.

Many thanks to everyone for bearing with me while my father was so sick.  He is not out of the woods yet, but he is doing much better - home from the hospital after almost two weeks, and doing his best to get even better as quickly as possible.  I have a LOT to catch up on in life and on the blog, but hopefully everything will be back to “normal” soon!

I will be posting more in the next few days, and I will be back on the ShaunOMac show on Monday after three weeks off!  I have missed those guys, missed all of you, and definitely missed the BSG analysis. 

Once again, many thanks to everyone for your patience and good wishes … I hope you will extend me a bit more as I try to catch up! Battlestar Galactica news moves at the speed of a jump, and I am feeling very behind!

Katee Sackhoff hit the red carpet this weekend for TV Guide’s celebration of the Sexiest Stars of 2008.

These pictures are gorgeous, and they are also very unusual for Katee.  The actress is known for wearing lush solid colors on the red carpet, so the fact that she is wearing a wild print for a big event shows she is trying new things.

The party was held in Hollywood and featured a mix of talent from scripted and reality shows.  Other celebrities in attendance included Jennifer Love Hewett from Ghost Whisperer, Zachary Levi and Yvonne Strahovski from Chuck, Alex O’Loughlin from Moonlight, Karina Smirnoff and Kym Johnson from Dancing with the Stars, Olivia Wilde from House, M.D., Scott M. Foster from Quarterlife, Rebecca Mader from Lost, and various stars from Heroes among others.

Katee will also be featured in the related magazine issue, which will be on newsstands this week.  This is great buzz for Katee, who gathered up a lot of new fans in the 2007-2008 television season.  Here’s hoping we see much more of her in 2008-2009.

Jamie Bamber is also in the issue, in the “Sexiest Sci Fi Guy” section.  You know we are at a unique moment in pop culture when “Sexiest Sci Fi Guy” and “Sexiest Nerds” are two different categories.  There is also a category for “Sexiest Smart Chicks” which unfortunately neglected to include Mary McDonnell. 

It’s great that TV Guide is recognizing that brains are just as important as beauty when it comes to recognizing sexy - now if we can just get them to expand their age ranges a bit, we could really celebrate!

Thanks to everyone who has written to check on my father, who is still in the hospital. We are really hoping Dad gets to come home soon.

Until then, I appreciate everyone’s patience with me! Either way, I will try to get some more BSG news up on the blog over the weekend.

Thank You,
Margie

Regardless of your particular theory about what is going on with this season’s version of Starbuck, you can’t ignore her significance to Battlestar Galactica and the fate of its crew.

Grant Gould is a bit of a cult figure among BSG fans, as his past works of art based on the show have done a remarkable job of capturing the spirit and feel of the characters.

This past week Grant posted a new four-color work that focuses on this season’s Starbuck, which does a fabulous job of capturing her confused determination as well as the symbolism that surrounds her and her “special destiny.” To see a much larger, original, version of the drawing please click here.

Grant also has his 2008 sketchbook for sale to all folks, even those that do not make it to conventions he will be attending. The cost is $10 for the sketchbook, plus shipping ($5 for fans living in Canada or the United States, $10 for fans living outside of North America). The color cover features a Cylon and a great hybrid of Princess Leia from Star Wars and Battlestar Galactica’s Number Six, and each sketchbook comes with a custom sketch of your favorite character from BSG or another well-known scifi or fantasy production.

One of the great things about Battlestar Galactica being back on the air is that we may get to see more BSG-inspired art in the next few weeks. The show has so many talented fans, it is always a thrill to see what they come up with next.

Leah Cairns, aka Margaret “Racetrack” Edmondson on Battlestar Galactica, was partying with Al Pacino last week at the world premiere of 88 Minutes at the Planet Hollywood Resort and Casino in Las Vegas.

Leah posed with Chris Carillo and Kevin Hawryluk above, and costars Alicia Witt and Deborah Kara Unger below.  Other celebrities at the event included Leelee Sobieski, who wore leather with Tricia Helfer in Walk This Way, as well as boxer Joe Calzaghe and actors Benjamin McKenzie and Marguerite Moreau.

88 Minutes has gotten terrible reviews, mostly because of its crazy plot and because people expect more from Al Pacino.  Leah plays a woman who sleeps with Pacino in the movie, and who may or may not have had a part in setting up his character for the murder/suspense portion of the plot.  Reviews of her performance are typically described as “naked” (literally) … for a chance to see why, check out the YouTube clip below.

Reviews have Al Pacino’s new movie 88 Minutes have been savagely negative, but there is one reason for Battlestar Galactica fans to go see it anyway: it features a “naked and limber” Leah Cairns. So if you liked that sports-bra strip poker scene with Racetrack and Anders in “Six of One,” then this may be the movie for you.

TV Addict got a serious scoop this week that includes serious Caprica spoilers, including some an excerpt from the words written for Joseph Adama in the current version of the script.

TVByTheNumbers.com has the ratings for the first three episodes of Season Four of Battlestar Galactica, which are looking pretty good all things considered.

Tricia Helfer (Number Six) and Callum Keith Rennie (Leoban) are both nominated for Leo Awards this year. Callum is nominated for the ensemble drama Normal, while Tricia is nominated for her well-reviewed dominatrix heist movie Walk All Over Me.

Callum will be answering forum questions about his movie Snow Cake in connection to the launch of the First Weekend Club, a DVD club for fans of movies made in Canada.

Brent Spiner, aka Data of Star Trek: The Next Generation, and Nicki Clyne had a cute exchange at FedCon last weekend:

Brent Spiner (STTNG): “I just wanted to say how proud I am of the work we do on Battlestar Galactica.” (Note: he’s not in the series and apparently doesn’t even know it)

Nicki Clyne (BSG): “It is so much fun working with Brent Spiner, the show wouldn’t be the same without him.”

Len Neighbors has posted volume three of So Say We All: The Battlestar Galactica Blog Carnival. Most of the posts focus on last week’s episode, “The Ties That Bind” and include serious spoilers so do not click through if you have not seen the episode yet.

If you have seen the episode, be sure to check out the latest strip from webcomic Frakking Toasters, which accurately displays a lot of fans’ feelings about Cally Tyrol. Thanks to Jatg of Battlestar Blog for the head’s up.

If you have not seen the beach-bunny-in-leather-styled photos of Tricia Helfer, Katee Sackhoff, and Grace Park in this month’s Interview magazine yet, then FashionArtEdit is happy to help you out.

This is an interesting list of twenty moments where Battlestar Galactica characters have contemplated suicide.

On the lighter side, check out this bizarre 2006 clip of Nicki Clyne donning elf/alien ears as part of the web series Tiki Bar TV.

The cool Cylon photo above is courtesy of Mechazilla, the obsessive fan collector’s site. Speaking of courtesy, I sincerely appreciate everyone being patient with me this week while I have been posting sparsely and falling behind, we had a family medical emergency and I have been spending a lot of time with doctors who are (probably) not Cylons.

So much happened in this episode! Some quick thoughts below, and I will be on the ShaunOMac show again this evening to talk about Battlestar Galactica if you want to call in.

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